


The Lonetree

by Susspencer



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Gen, More angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 03:11:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14440194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Susspencer/pseuds/Susspencer
Summary: How can being trapped with only a lone tree as your only view give any one hope?   It is dead?  bare branched?  nothing around it?  Will Aaron Hotchner find hope or wither away?





	The Lonetree

**Author's Note:**

> The April Picture Perfect challenge is to take the picture and write a story about it in 1000 words or less. Here is my attempt.

 

 

 

Ironic, as it seemed, it was also very apropo, the window was square about the size of an airplane window.  How many mornings, days, nights, early am’s had he stared out that space. Now, that was his entire view of the world.  One lone tree, dead grass, a bleak horizon, nothing past the horizon. No one would be looking for him. Dave would be telling them soon that Scratch had shown up at Jack’s school and soccer game. Rossi was supposed to explain that they would be off into witness protection.  It was so perfect for Mr. Scratch. He grabbed Hotch that night, while Jack was at Jessica’s saying goodbye his aunt and grandfather. Witness protection picked Jack up the next morning, but when they couldn’t find Aaron, they hid Jack.    
  
There had been bars in the window.  Hotch started working on the day one.  He had a son to find. It was odd to look through bars and hope.  Not a position that Aaron was used to being in, at least he had a window.  There were bottled water and protein bars for nourishment. No one came, not even Mr. Scratch.  Aaron knew what to do, in order to keep sane. He knew not to hope, but when you have always counted on your team.  It is hard not to keep an eye on the horizon for the cavalry.    
  
When he would sleep, old words would haunt him.    
  
“Sometimes there are no words, no clever quotes, to neatly sum up what’s happened that day.  Sometimes you do everything right, everything exactly right, and still you feel like you’ve failed.”   
  
  
“Did it need to end that way?  Could something have been done to prevent the tragedy in the first place?”   
  
“And what about my team?  How many more times will they be able to look into the abyss?  How many more times before they won’t ever recover the pieces of themselves that this job takes?”   
  
“Like I said, sometimes there are no words, no clever quotes to neatly sum up what’s happened that day.”   
  
“You should have made a deal,” the Reaper said.   
  
“SOMETIMES THE DAY JUST [GUNSHOT] ENDS.”

  
Hotch bolted awake and started to work on the bars again. Another UNSUB was not going to take any more of his family.  Digging, pulling, twisting, until his knuckles were bloody, the irony wasn’t lost on him, as he broke down sobbing.   
  
The sun would rise to find, the exhausted man curled up, his hands in fists covering his face.  As he awoke, he would drink a bottle of water. His eyes fixated out the window. He knew Scratch would be coming for him, but when?  The man wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see him fall apart.    
  
Aaron looked at the tree.  It was dormant, maybe dead. Its branches reached out far.  In its prime, he was sure that it gave much protection from the elements.  The more he studied it each day, between loosening the bars. He felt it told his life story.  The bend at the bottom, when he decided to turn away from his father’s abuse. The small branch where he went into law but discovered his calling to the BAU was who he was.  Damn, the trunk was thick there wasn’t it. He smiled to himself. A lifetime of second-guessing himself, now visualized and confirmed in a lone tree. A bar came loose in his hand.  His heart was happy for a moment. He put the bar back in and worked on another.    
  
As the days passed, the water bottles dwindled.  The last bar broke free. Aaron had counted the upward branches, there were enough for everyone who had been an agent in the BAU, and even Penelope.  He closed his eyes and thought about how widespread his influence had traveled through the years. Even with the losses, it didn’t matter what Scratch tried to tell him, he had done well.  Aaron had planned to wait for Mr. Scratch to come for him, and to exact his revenge.    
  
Instead, He climbed through the window, took his coat, and headed for the horizon.  It didn’t matter, which BAU member caught Mr. Scratch. He would be caught. This Aaron knew.  He had a son to find, and raise. The lone tree Hotchner, had a newer branch to tend to.


End file.
